Total Fantasy 2: Ragnarok Incarnate
by vidGAMEinggod
Summary: Takes off three years after my last story. Eric and Sarah return to the Star Fox world, only to discover that things can change horribly over 3 years. While it's not a mandate that you read TF first, it's highly reccomended.
1. Prologue: The human threat

Disclaimer:

I don't own anything here, except the plot, Eric, and Sarah. I might be missing something, but I don't care. Everything is property of it's other respective owners. Except where specifically noted, all virtual celebrity text was impersonated and no celebrities endorse any aspect of this.

That said, let us rise up against our celebrities and make fun of them.

Prologue

      Three years ago, two humans, Eric Shroud and Sarah Terminham, became the fourth group in history to break a dimensional barrier separating foreign and alien worlds. One of the other three was a group that the duo only caught glimpses of, and battled rarely, an enigmatic mega-corporation whose name could only be guessed as The End. Another were the apparent late spirits of James McCloud and Vixy Rienhard, James' spouse, who hailed from a universe that was titled Star Fox informally and Dimensional Cache #67392890386 formally. The fourth group is as of yet unknown to Eric and Shroud. But even though Eric and Sarah would never wish to repeat the events that they witnessed and participated in, there were mysteries that they overlooked or did not look into. A man named Jack Chaykin. Who is he, and why did the main characters they ran into- Fox McCloud and his mercenary group Star Fox, Katt Monroe and Bill Grey- claim that there was another human in their world prior? To their knowledge, they were the first non-furry sentient beings to set foot into their dimension.

      It's time to head back into Dimensional Cache #67392890386, to explore what happened after Eric and Sarah left the world. For The Battle at Venom's Tower was not an ending, but a beginning.

Three months ago

      Falco Lombardi practically crashed into the booth in the corner at Joe's Tavern. To say the last few months had been extremely tiring would be an understatement, and he needed a beer.  Around last year Lylat had started getting attacked by highly skilled fighter fleets followed by dropships (which carried an equally planned out ground assault), and a couple planets were on the brink of surrender. Not the least of which was that several pink monkeys had been noted in the invasion course. Falco had seen these creatures before. Three of them, but all three were on friendly terms. Falco sighed. He knew it was under strange circumstances with which he met them, and now with Lylat under siege by 'em… beer suddenly didn't seem strong enough anymore.

      He pondered what to do after he had flagged the waitress down and took a swig of the fermentated beverage. Falco was a bird of action, but each creature had its limits, and Falco was reaching his. Save for the crew aboard the Great Fox, he hadn't seen hardly any of his friends for ages; he'd been that busy. Was it really too much trouble to party every now and then? But then he'd start and get an urgent call to head to battle. If there had only been three humans in the past eleven years, how were there now a seemingly endless number of them just waiting to send resistance forces six feet under? It didn't make any sense. Whoever was behind this was doing an extremely good job of keeping their identity secret. Only one clue was offered to the nature of their origins, a battle cry of "Embrace The End" barely whispered. For all of their battle prowess, Falco thought they needed a better battle-cry, one that actually required noise.

      And where the hell did they come from? From Eric's and Jack's world? And if so, why weren't they mentioned? Unless Eric, Jack and Sarah were all ambassadors in targeting that particular dimension… Falco hoped it wasn't that; he had been looking forward to seeing them again; seeing that Fox was going nuts. They hadn't returned in almost three years, and it was killing Fox not seeing his daughter, seeing that his wife was killed just a few days before they left. It hurt Falco to see his friend like that, and even though the being responsible probably died in the cataclysmic battle three years ago, he felt a mighty need to lay down some whoopass on said responsible party.

      At that moment, the door to the tavern swung open and a mouse of small stature came running up to the tavern counter. Immediately, something in the back of Falco's mind went off with a bang. He knew that this mouse brought bad news, he just couldn't put his finger on it… what could just bring on this… feeling? Nothing that easily, that was for sure.

      After awhile, the guy behind the bar pointed in Falco's direction and the mouse walked over. "Mr. Lombardi?" She asked.

      "Yeah," Falco asked, looking her over.

      "I come bearing a message from Lieutenant Derrek."

      "Why didn't he just call my communicator?" Falco thought, but then realized the answer. _Oh yeah, it broke. _It prevented his arm from taking a nasty blaster shot on accident the day before and he hadn't gotten around to fixing it yet."Never mind, I remembered," Falco said as the mouse opened her mouth.

      "He suggested you come with me. You see…

      "It's Fox."


	2. Chapter I: Harsh realization

Chapter I

      Falco put his glass down and laughed, even though the feeling of dread hit him again. "Fox, in trouble? Please. He took on General Scales' army with a stick of wood alone. You're going to have to come up with a better excuse to convince me to walk out of the bar where your friends are waiting to mug me."

      The mouse rolled her eyes. She was losing patience. Pulling out a piece of paper, she scowled as she handed it to Falco. "There, proof."

      Falco skimmed over the note, and the signature at the bottom. His face fell faster than a nuclear bomb. "This is General Pepper's handwriting…"

      "Now that I have your attention, will you follow me? General Pepper wanted to see you."

      Falco took a quick assessment of everything that this could mean, and nodded. "Sure."

      The mouse led Falco away after the check was left. She walked around back and introduced the pilot to her car. It was an old piece of crap, but it'd get them to the HQ quick enough, being only a few blocks away. Conversation in the car was as dead as the quietest night.

      They pulled into the parking lot of the military headquarters. Falco grimaced. Not but a couple weeks ago the HQ was bombed, resulting in thirteen deaths, thirty injuries. Falco's team managed to chase them off before things got really ugly, but the ability to operate was seriously compromised.

      "He'll be on B1," the mouse explained. Falco barely heard, lost in retrospect.

      The mouse stayed in the lobby while Falco went into the military elevator, which went to the classified floors. Pepper was in the briefing room, looking like he hadn't slept in days. The room was standard mess-hall layout.

      "Falco," he said, looking solomn.

      "This better be good, General. I was enjoying downtime."

      The fact that the General didn't even bother to reprimand him was cause enough to prepare for the worst. "Have a seat, Falco."

      Now Falco was worried. Pepper wasn't even on first-name terms with Fox, whom he called upon regularly. He didn't let it show, though. He kicked up his feet on the chair in front of him as he listened to what the general had to say.

      "We picked up this footage live-download from the Great Fox' video cameras." Pepper flipped a switch on the podium.

      An ArWing and the Great Fox were fighting amidst a rust-red background. The picture quality was extremely grainy and liked to quiver. The camera appeared to be mounted in between the right wings; judging from the viewpoint, it appeared to be viewing from the crevice in between the wings. Two ships were assailing a single ArWing. One was brightly colored with a myriad of patterns; the other was nearly black. However, it looked as if the ArWing had the upper hand. It moved with liquid grace, returning shot for shot against the assailants. However, numerous laser flashes kept flashing from the left side of the camera angle, as if the Great Fox was engaged with something.

      "So?" Falco scoffed. He began to feel like it was a false alarm; another false positive given by a jumpy general in times of paranoia. "This just looks like a routine battle. You dragged me away from the bar for this? You're getting old, Pepper."

      Pepper looked deeply saddened, but said nothing as he motioned for Falco to keep watching.

      Suddenly, a blast out of nowhere struck the rear of the ArWing. Heavy amounts of thick, black smoke started billowing out at a startling rate. Falco muttered various curses under his breath as the video feed was cut.

      "Well, ain't that the shits," Falco cursed. "This is the last contact with Fox and the others?"

      "Yes," Pepper said solemnly. "As fate would have it, another of our top computer operatives, Fara Pheonix, was on board when this event occurred."

      Falco groaned. If anyone could have single-handedly pulled Lylat out of such a huge danger, it was Fox. And now it looked like not even he was still standing. "Was the Great Fox recovered?" Falco asked.

      "No," Pepper said glumly. "Hope is quickly fading for Lylat. If we don't repel these invaders soon…" He let it hang.

      "I know," Falco said. He slowly walked from the room, downcast. His friends were almost certainly dead and Lylat was poised for defeat.

      Falco passed through the doorway. He didn't hear it, but Pepper started muttering to himself. "If only she didn't fail."


	3. Chapter II: Plans for reunion

Notes: To Kairos Lokorr… I suck. No, I'm not referring to my writing, although that works too. But last time my hard drive exploded, the link to MSS blew up as well. So… could I have the link again? I have a horrible memory. To KKG: For Christ's sake, I ain't mad! Enough with the guilt trip already! To Fanfiction.net moderators: Thank you for making me shove this all in a chapter and not give it its own tidy little nook for my notes. /sarcasm To everyone; after every single friggin' person wanted me to write from multiple perspectives: You win. Take my eyes out and roll 'em in salt, dip 'em in vinegar and shove 'em up my ass, you win. Now how the hell am I going to keep the perspectives different from if and when Quiksilver finishes and starts his story? ;p To KnightoftheApocolypse: Look. I appreciate your attempt to make amends, but tone the sarcasm down about ten notches and I might believe you. I'm not as angry at you now, but only because I can't hold a grudge very well at all. But know that my opinion of your stories still stands (i. e. Absolute crap. Just goes to show you flame wars happen when an artist/author/random dude criticizes another in their trade. Flame wars). And lastly, to Quiksucks, or whatever the hell your name is: I can just imagine myself getting into a flame war with you like I did with TheKnightoftheApocolypse awhile back. You see, there's a harsh mistress called Real Life that bogs down both his and my writing. Hell, both of us are in frickin' high school. Cut us some frickin' slack.

Chapter II

Three months later

Dimensional Cache #18365917863409769087

_System of a Down_

**Forest**

_Walk with me my little child_

_Through the Forest of Denial_

_Speak with me my ONLY MIND_

_Walk with me until the time_

_Make the Forest turn to wine_

_You take the legend for a fall_

_You saw the product_

_WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THAT YOU ARE MY CHILD_

_Why don't you know that you are my mind_

_Tell everyone in the world_

_That I'm_

_You_

_Take this promise to the end_

_Of you._

_Walk with me my little friend_

_Take this promise through the end_

_Speak with me my ONLY MIND_

_Walk with me until the end_

_Make the Forest turn to sand_

_You take the legend for a fall_

_You saw the product_

_WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THAT YOU ARE MY CHILD_

_Why don't you know that you are my mind_

_Tell everyone in the world_

_That I'm _

_You_

_Take this promise to the end_

_Of you._

_Take this promise for a ride_

_You saw the Forest, now come inside_

_You took the legend for its fall_

_You saw the product of it all_

_No televisions in the air_

_No circumcisions on the chair_

_You made the weapons for us all_

_JUST LOOK AT US NOW!_

_WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THAT YOU ARE MY CHILD_

_Why can't you know that you are my mind_

_Tell everyone in the world that I'm_

_You_

_Take this promise to the end _

_Of YOU._

Sarah Termingham sat, slaving away at her desktop computer. In the three years that passed since the incident of the worlds, she had taken up college in Wisconsin and was residing in an apartment near campus. She hadn't seen her friend Eric Shroud for almost a year, now. She had spoken to him over the phone, but she still missed him. Other than that fact, Sarah's life was going rather pleasantly. However, that assumes that you don't take the fact that another being was sharing Sarah's soul with her a factor against pleasant life.

      What was worse was that the second personality, Vixy Reinhardt was getting angry. She had crawled out of the grave to revisit her son, and Sarah had promised to return into the dimension from which Vixy was born every now and then. So far, no promise had been kept. It had been three years now, and Sarah had not returned. Had it not been for her great sense of patience, Vixy would be fuming. But all she was showing was a sense of urgency.

      Thinking of which, Sarah thought to herself. Maybe it was time to head back. There was always time to finish the report later, and Sarah was already doing quite well in her classes. The thought for a second about what it could mean to go back. "What's the worst that could possibly happen?" She said out loud.

      With that, she made up her mind. The sun was just beginning to fade over the horizon, so she turned on the light in the apartment and moved to her closet. Inside a few boxes she kept tucked carefully in the back were a couple "souvenirs" from her last foray into the Star Fox dimension.

      In one box was a weapon previously residing in the afterlife, the bow Beamstriker. Capable of both ranged combat with the arrows, and melee combat with long, curved blades on the end, Beamstriker had come through for Sarah several times in the last foray into the Star Fox dimension, and Sarah felt she should probably bring it, just in case. It also seemed to have an odd ability to anchor Vixy's soul in this world. A home away from home for her, if you'll have it.

      The other box placed carefully in the back contained two objects of great importance. One was an armband constructed of a shiny, substance that would resemble steel had it not had a blue tinge and a slightly transparent covering. Sarah figured it was probably constructed of the same material of the blades on Beamstriker, but she had forgotten the name. Eric probably knew. In addition to viewing the vital sign of it's wearer, it functioned as a low-scale radar and radio. However, for a reason that was as yet unknown, it also possessed the ability to switch Sarah's form (and mind in control) with Vixy's. Eric had one too, for he also had an alter self, that was Vixy's husband, James McCloud.

      The other item was a pair of mirrored sunglasses. Both Sarah and Eric had been given pairs by the spectral apparitions of Vixy and James, respectively. When they wore them, they were transported to another world. Eric said he had once gone into the Final Fantasy world to pick out some distinct flowers for a Mother's Day awhile back, so they appeared to have the ability to transport the wearer to a world other than the Star Fox one. But so far, Sarah wasn't entirely sure how they worked. Again, Eric probably knew. Somehow, he found the time to figure out these things. Sarah had the time, but chose to spend it on less adventurous pastimes.

      She reached for the sunglasses. It had only been three years since she had been holding them in her hands, preparing for the dimension jump. She still wondered; was she still ready? One way to find out. She put them to her face.

      Just before the legs would have touched her face, the phone rang.

      Scrambling to put the boxes back into the closet quickly, she hurried to the phone and glanced at the caller id. "J.'s Sell." Eric. Even after a dimension jump, he still didn't have what an average Joe would consider a life.

      "Hello?"

      "Hey." A deep, raspy voice on the other end of the phone said. Since Sarah moved, Eric had very little to practice the usage of speech on.

      "Hi, Eric! How's it going?"

      "Absolute crap. I got grade-skipped, though. That's a bonus."

      "How does that work, anyway?"

      "Beats me. I just know I scored a 1745 on the SAT's as a junior, so they graduated me. You just have to know how to grease the wheels of destiny…"

      Sarah chuckled. "Well, now that you an get to college a year early, what are you going to do?"

      "Aw, hell, I don't know. I'm thinking of getting a job the Dave & Busters down here. Booze and games, best combination ever."

      "Don't you have to be at least 21 to get a job where alcohol's involved?"

      "Oh yeah… Thanks for stomping on my idealism, Sarah," Eric said with apparent resent. Then he laughed. "Hey, are you still on this side of the United States? We're having a family reunion over the summer. Mom loves that sentimental crap. Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to show up."

      "I'd love to, but I'm under some financial strain right now… I don't think I'll be able to afford the plane ticket…" Sarah said, spirits slightly dampened. Eric's family was an interesting bunch, except for his Uncle Sam. Everyone worried about him.

      "Gotcha covered. Dad got a raise recently, and he said that now he's got the money to let me fly one of my friends over. And guess the first person to come to mind was?"

      "Can I guess who the only person to come to mind was?" Sarah joshed. She heard Eric laugh.

      "Okay, okay. Point taken. Anyway, he'll pay for the two-way ticket. You want to come?" Eric asked.

      "When was this, anyway?"

      "Let's me think for a second… It's April right now… I think the big party is July 31st, although there will undoubtedly be other mini-events the days leading up to it. Everyone leaves August 2nd. Think you can make it?"

      "You know, that works out, this year in college ends somewhere in June. So you'll be able to pay for the ticket?" Sarah asked.

      "Yep. I'll have Mom start arranging it; she's a lawyer, she's good at that sort of thing."

      "Okay. Nice talking to you."

      "Later." Click.

      Well, that was something she could look forward to. Just a couple of months and then a huge breather."

      "Sarah," a voice said. Sarah jumped.

      "Oh… Vixy…"

      "I want to be able to see James while we're there," Vixy commanded, her voice coming out of nowhere. It was like hearing her voice, only not hearing it at the same time. "It's been too long…"

      "I know…" Sarah muttered. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to arrange something sooner…"

      "I hadn't realized how long it's been. Three years! Fox must be worried sick about his daughter, and I miss James horribly."

      "We've talked to him over the phone…" Sarah stammered pathetically.

      "I want to see them. I want to remember the joy I've known in their presence."

      "Okay… can it wait another three months? Please?"

      "I'll wait that long, but not much longer." And with that, Vixy fell silent.

      It was a dampener to high spirits. Sarah knew she couldn't keep making up excuses for it all. She'd have Vixy see James during the reunion. It was, after all, a reunion for family.

      But Fox wasn't going to be there, and couldn't possibly be there. She guessed that Vixy wasn't going to be able to see Fox until later. Sarah really was overdue for a visit back into the Star Fox dimension. But not now. Maybe sometime after Sarah met Eric again.

      Either way, it was getting late. She went to her bed, and turned to the photo of her family on the bedstead. She closed her eyes, her almost-venture into the next dimension, and the box with the sunglasses, lay forgotten.

At that very moment…

      Falco sidestepped the falling debris in the broken down warehouse he had been chased into. His pistol had gotten broken, and he was bleeding from several lacerations. He didn't know how much longer he could keep running. He wasn't sure exactly who was chasing him, but he got more than a few good looks at him. Really tall, with spiked back hair, dyed a horribly bright shade of yellow. The kind you get in a child's crayon set. Black eyes twinkling with an inset insanity, with thin, gangly limbs. His speech was as insane as his eyes, shouting out bizarre threats that mirrored the way his eyes sparkled. 

And he was human! Yet another of the human tyrants, carrying an unmistakable number of similarities to the other hairless monkeys Falco had seen earlier. Eric, Sarah and Jack. And through all of this, it was his choice of armament that was especially scary.

      He had a standard laser assault rifle over his shoulder, but Falco hadn't seen him actually hoist it. He instead preferred two long, steel rods to beat Falco senseless, and he was trained enough that he could use the shiny surface to reflect Falco's lasers. It was really scary because at completely random intervals, blades would shoot out the end of the rods, slicing anything near them, except his hands. The sound it made could only be resembled by a switchblade symphony all going at the same time, played by a manic-depressive orchestra whose tempo resembled their mood. Falco had taken a nasty cut from this attack across the chest. Blood had stained his combat vest and was slowly dripping down into his lower body. Feathers were matted with sweat; a piece of Falco's beak had been hit off from the force of the assailant.

      "Forty-six, forty-seven, forty-eight…" Falco heard the voice of the person who was chasing him. "Forty-nine, fifty… Ready or not, here I come!"

      Falco went into a guarding stance, looking all around for any possible movement that this foe was making. A futile gesture. So far, the enemy had been able to hide extremely well while pursuing Falco.

      "Peekaboo!" A voice shouted. Falco lurched forward into a roll out of instinct. "My attack brews nervous feelings! I HAVE FURY!" He shouted.

      Falco choked on chuckles in spite of the situation. As he bent down for a rock to throw this foe, he heard an insane chuckling accompanied by something sounding like, "I love it when they do that."

      He was closer to Falco than Falco thought he was, unfortunately.  Three seconds later, the last thing Falco saw was the last building in the down, slowly crumbling, the pillaging army of The End sweeping through the town he had been sent to protect.


	4. Chapter III: Shroud

Three Months Later…

      "This is your captain speaking; we are about twenty minutes to land, please sit down and fasten your seatbelts, and turn off any and all electronic devices until we hit the ground, thank you and have a nice day."

      Sarah shut down her laptop and stared out the window. The airplane was just dipping below the clouds, and the familiar landscape of California started to roll into vision.

      "Are we there?" Came a small voice from the window seat next to Sarah.

      Sarah had brought Jade McCloud along on the trip. Fox McCloud, had entrusted Sarah with his daughter, and for the last three years Sarah had raised Jade as one of her own. So far, so good, but it was murder getting Jade on the plane without anyone realizing that Jade had fox ears, a foot-and-a-half long tail, and fur, and things would get ugly eventually when she gets old enough to go to school, but for now, everything would be okay.

      "Yes. Do you remember Eric?" Sarah said, speaking slowly. Jade was so far proving to be a language prodigy, but it was still very easy to talk to fast or using too big words for her comprehension.

      Jade frowned, brow furrowed in concentration. "No…"

      Sarah was sure Eric remembered Jade. Eric had saved Jade from abduction from an assassin during their last journey to Jade's home dimension. The only motive the assassin apparently had was it was Jade and he came from a planet with a reputation for producing villainous sorts, but that alone would not be enough for a dangerous mission into the capital of the solar system.

      "Anyway, you'll meet him soon when we land. He and his parents are meeting us and then they'll take us to their house."

      After a short while, the airplane touched down. The captain's voice came through the speakers reminding them to enjoy their stay in California, and then Sarah took her carry-on luggage in one hand and Jade's hand in the other.

      Right around then, Sarah had a really horrible thought… _"Did Eric tell his family about this?" _Either way, she was about to find out…

      Sarah out of the plane and into the airport, standing on her tip toes, trying to get a glimpse of Eric.

      "Do you see him?" Jade asked.

      "Not yet… oh wait, there he is!" She replied, spotting Eric coming out of the food court.

      Eric was either a young adult or an old teenager, depending on where you draw the line. He may have been abnormally tall for his age three years ago, standing at six feet, but, now seventeen, his age caught up with his size. He had always been a little scrawny, but their adventure put some bulk on his bones. It looked like Eric had been doing the very minimum to keep previously-mentioned bulk.

      He caught Sarah's eye. He started on his way, and then a crowd of people cleared and he saw Jade. Sarah almost laughed, as he saw Eric's facial features go from happy, to confused, to analyzing, to realization, to confused again, then angry. He quickened his pace.

      "Now, he may seem a little… cranky, but he's a good guy. Just don't repeat anything he says."

      "Excuse me for being blunt, but why the FUCK did you bring Jade?"

      "Calm down, Eric… People are staring!"

      Eric took a few deep breaths. "Okay. Why did you bring Jade along? I mean, she's got really freaking bright-white fur. Fox ears. And a tail. And albeit the tail being damned cool looking, there's no way you're going to be able to just sneak Jade into a family reunion containing a bunch of my mom and dad's family, and NOT expect them to realize, that, hey, maybe she ain't from around here?"

      "You know, maybe now would be a good time to let them know about what had happened. I don't want to sit in secluded security anymore, Eric, I want to be able to show Jade to the world and say, 'Hey, there's a place out there beyond what we as fallible human beings know."

      Eric shook his head in disgust. "Sarah, Sarah, Sarah. Every time we decide to try and expand, we end up killing what we expand to. Humans en masse can only cause horrible, horrible problems for Lylat, and any other galaxies, or dimensions, or whatever the hell else the places might be called. Trust me on this one."

      "Maybe not. The scary thing is, one of us is right. Maybe we should let your parents see Jade."

      "Sarah, be reasonable. I never even so much as gave them Murasma's blade. What makes you think they'll handle seeing a real, live, fur? Look, we'll finish this up in the car, before someone sees through Jade's coat."

      "I have to go to the bathroom…" Jade squeaked.

      "Aw, god dammit… Fine! Go to the fucking bathroom! Sarah, look after her, will you? I'll be out here, keeping watch…" Eric grumbled.

      Sarah took Jade into the restroom. It was the type with the T-junction, which then leads to the restrooms with no doors. Eric stood outside, his back to a wall, staring at the floor and muttering profanities, when a woman started walking towards the restroom Eric was standing by.

      "Uh, I'm sorry miss, but you can't go in there right now. Some kid puked, a couple of people are cleaning up right now, and it's really a mess…" Eric said, thinking fast. 

      The woman had shoulder length blond hair that liked covering her eyes. She wore a red female business suit and had blue eyes to contrast. She stood tall on her high-heels, almost as tall as Eric, and had an arrogant pose to her stance.

      "So?" She asked.

      "It's really bad… I think somebody broke out in that one, uh, rash that's going around? The one that creates spots on your ass? That's bad…"

      "Listen, kid. Let me through, and I'll make my own judgment on just how bad the situation is. I'm in a hurry, I'm trying to get to a friend's family reunion, and you're not going to keep me waiting…" She suddenly turned sweet, cooing, "Will you?"

      She was leaning close to him now. Eric backed up out of his self-preservation instinct. He saw Sarah and Jade (in her coat) step from around the corner. Eric blurted, "Oh, looks like they got stuff done… and stuff… I won't keep you waiting furthur, ma'am, thank you for your time…" and with that, he took Sarah's hand and hurried the two away from the restroom, with Blondie looking at them in confusion.

      "Took your sweet time, didn't you?" Eric scoffed.

      "Well, come on… give her a break, okay?"

      "Sure, sure. Let's go home, so I can wonder what the hell I'm going to do with Jade for two days."

      "She's my responsibility, Eric, I'll look after her…" Sarah responded. "Don't lose sleep over it." Eric did not bother to reply.

      The trip home was uneventful. Eric and Sarah barely spoke. Sarah seemed to have realized that bringing Jade would've brought complications with Eric's family. Eric's forehead was scrunched-up in thought, as if he couldn't possibly imagine a way out of the predicament that he found himself in.

      The car drive home was uneventful. Eric let his anger subside enough to make small talk with Sarah, about things that have changed in the last three years and where they are now. It continued that way until ten minutes before Eric's house, when Eric said, "Okay. So what exactly are we going to do with Jade?"

      "Well, we could just show her to your parents…" Sarah said sheepishly.

      Eric sighed. He couldn't think of very much else that could be done. How do you hide a fur for a weekend? A three year old, no less, with an unending curiosity to go places? He deliberated for eight minutes, before finally mumbling, "So be it."

      A few minutes later, Eric pulled the car up to his house, feelings of dread that could practically be felt by sitting next to him filling him up. Sarah, by contrast, was almost smiling, as to which Eric promptly chewed her out for lack of seriousness.

      _This is gonna SUCK! _Eric thought, after he complained to Sarah to wipe the grin off her face.

      _Well, I hope this works out all right…_ Sarah wished.

      Eric turned the doorknob and let him and Sarah in. "Hey, Mom? Dad? Uncle Phil? Sarah and I are home!"

      "Eric?" Marie Shroud's voice came from upstairs. "You're here? Excellent. Most of the rest of the family is in the backyard. Sarah, are you comfortable? Do you want anything do drink? Do make yourself at home, and don't hesitate to help yourself to anything in the fridge…"

      _Jeez, mom, when you get done offering Sarah about fifty or sixty different things, she's got something to tell you… _Eric thought to James, who promptly told him to hush.

      "It's okay, Mrs. Shroud," Sarah said.

      "Well, doesn't she have manners?" Marie commented. Eric was kneading his brow with his hands. _God, it's like SMS… Soccer Mom Syndrome. Only cure: painful interruption!_

"MOM! Relax… Sarah's a grown woman, she can take care of herself!" He added silently, _for Christ's sake_.

      "I see…" Marie added, wry grin creeping over her face. "Have you developed a taste in older women?" She teased.

      Eric lost his temper. "GRRRRAAAGH!" He shouted. He gave another feral growl. "Mom! Just… Ugh. Just, ugh. I'll be in the backyard…" And with that, he put the two bags Sarah brought by the foot of the stairs and walked from the hallway.

      "I wouldn't worry about him too much, Sarah. He's been moody all week, but he won't tell me why…" Marie said. Sarah nodded knowledge. "Hey, who'd you bring, Sarah?" asked the middle-aged woman. "Eric only told me he was bringing one mouth to feed, even thought this one's perfectly okay…" She added, grinning slightly. "Why don't you let the darling take their coat off? It's warm out here in Las Angeles!"

      "Well…" Sarah asked. This was the hard part. The part where you drop the bomb on them… Need to make it gentle…

      "Do you believe in life beyond our Earth?"

      "… What, dear?" Marie said, question taking her by surprise.

      "Do you?"

      "I don't buy much into the theory. A lawyer can't deal very much into shaky theories, only hard ones and the cold facts." She admitted. "Steve's into it a bit, though, and Eric spent a good part of the last three years trying to devise and submit a theory acknowledging and proving the existence of 'alternate dimensions.' Ordinarily, I would have thought it was childish speculation, but the research he's done would pass in a court of law, it's so sound. He still feels it's missing something, though…"

      So Eric HAD been trying to explain a little bit of this to his parents. Wonder if this would just bowl them over…

      "Well… what would you do if I had proof he's right?"

      Marie faltered. Despite a kindhearted attitude outside of the courtroom, she was no fool. Her eyes fell on Jade. "Is that…"

      Sarah took Jade's coat off. There, in full glory, was the two and a half-foot, bluish-white cub, with ears, fur, and a tail.

      Before Marie could say something, Eric came in around the corner, eyes confused and with a familiar, "I saw what I'm not sure I should have saw…" look.

      "The blond woman from the airport is here…"


	5. Chapter IV: Prejudice and realization

AN: I would like to formally apologize for the length of time this took. Schoolwork was a bitch, but now that school got out in the middle of writing this chapter, I might have it out before school gets back in. Wish me luck, y'all.

Chapter IV

      Sarah looked sheepishly around at Eric and Maria Shroud. Eric looked down at Jade, whose eyes were wandering around the house. Saw his mom's reaction to Jade and braced himself for the storm.

      Marie bit her lip. "Who… when… how…" She started walking down the stars. When she got to the bottom, she started scratching Jade's ears. Eric cocked an eyebrow.

      "Uh… mom?"

      "When did this happen? W-… Where's… it… from?"

      "She…" Sarah said slowly and calmly. "Her name's Jade. Jade McCloud."

      "We'll tell you what happened… You might want to find a comfortable place to sit down and get a glass of wine, this might take awhile…" Eric said.__

      During the story, Marie spent most of the time scratching behind Jade's ears and making comments on the sheer oddity of it all. But after hearing the details of the battle with the Ice Wendigo, Marie froze. "You were in a fight?"

      Eric actually chuckled. Motherly instincts. "Just don't give me a hug; I'm alright and I'm coping. I think I still have a scar…-"

      "No, don't," Marie interrupted. "Out of sight, out of mind. It's hard enough to accept the fact that there are places Out There, I don't want to imagine you being hurt…"

      The story continued. They were almost about to begin what happened on Venom when another one of Eric's relatives came in, Uncle Phil.

      "Yo, dudes!" Phil's mindset and clothing preference were rooted forty years away, to Eric's chagrin and Sarah's amusement. Phil tended to parade around in tie-dye shirts and He was also gifted with a knack for earning trust, with a long-running newspaper advice column to back it up.

      Eric cocked an eyebrow in distaste. "Yo, Phil."

      "Am I interrupting anything?" Phil asked, then finally saw Jade. It was his turn to cock an eyebrow. Eric tensed up, braced for impact. "Uh, so what kind of gnarly birth defect is this?" Phil asked.

      Sarah and Eric looked at each other.

      "Well, it's a-" Sarah started.

      "Jade's-" Eric began

      "Er…"

      "You go first…" Eric offered.

      "No, you're a better storyteller," Sarah returned. They both looked at Phil.

      "Jade's from-" They both said in unison. Eric cursed.

      "Jade's not from this world," Sarah said finally. Marie put in a word.

      "Eric had been trying for awhile to mathematically and scientifically prove that other dimensions exist different to our own. And, apparently, he's known for three years…" Marie said doubtfully, as if the truth was still not dawning on her.

      "And," Sarah said, breaking an awkward silence. "Well, Fox… someone we met, Phil… he couldn't take Jade, given his job, so he let me look after her."

      "Wait… huh?" Phil stammered. His eyes kept darting to Marie's face, to Sarah, to Eric, to Jade, then back to Marie. "So… furball came from another world?"

      There was a beat. Sarah was looking at Phil, hopeful. Eric was kneading his brow with his hand.

      "Cool!"

      "Look, just be- huh?" Eric started.

      "You mean… you don't think Jade's a freak?" Sarah asked.

      "Well, maybe a little," Phil admitted. "And it is going to be hard to get used to it, but I don't believe in judging people by their looks."

      "Well, I suppose that's a step in the right direction, huh, Eric?" Marie inquired.

      "Yeah, I think so. See, Eric? You could learn something from people like Phil," Sarah said. "Mellow out a bit," For Eric had been chewing on his knuckles for the last twenty seconds or so from nervousness.

      "Sure. Tell you what. You all can sit here and reminisce over just how good Jade looks with fur, I'm going to find out why the blond person from the airport's here,"

      "You mean Tina? She came with Sam," Phil said.

      "Yeah, Ti- huh? She's…" The egg timer in the back of everybody's brain went off. "She's with Sam?" Eric asked.

      "Yeah," Phil nodded. "Oddly enough, the little wanker seems to have gotten a girl."

      "What's so bad about Uncle Sam?" Sarah asked.

      "Well, he works for the IRS. And he's as slick as they come. He wants to have his cake and eat it too, and he's good at it. He's always in questionable activities that he doesn't share with the rest of us… we worry for him. We stick together as family, Sarah, but Sam has us questioning his ability to stay out of trouble much longer."

      Eric raised his hand. "'Have his cake and eat it too?' Phil, come back. You're too deep in the 1960's."

      Phil chuckled as he continued, Sarah at rapt attention. Jade continued to listen, picking up what she could. "It's strange, Sam and Tina, since they got here, haven't done anything but converse in the den. Sharon, Sherman and I have all tried seeing what they're up to, but they change the subject and throw some papers into a suitcase the instant we get close enough to comprehend what they're saying."

      "I think this is getting a little on the downer side, people…" Sarah said, picking Jade up. "This was supposed to be a happy occasion! Can we please just have a good time, even if Jade is…" She paused for words.

      "A fur?" Eric interjected.

      "Yes… no!" Sarah cried. "More like… fuzzy… with animal qualities…"

      The four went outside into the back yard ("As I was saying…" Eric grumbled) where Marie set up a playpen for the other infants and young toddlers that the other Shroud's would bring. Sarah went into the guest room to change and unpack, leaving Eric to supervise Jade in the pen. "I think Sarah went upstairs on purpose, Jade," Eric complained. "I'm gonna have to explain to like, fourteen people where you're from. This is gonna _suck_…"

_Shortly Thereafter…_

      "Hey Eric!"

      Eric looked up from his _Popular Mechanics_ magazine towards the sound. It was his cousin Victoria, although she went by Vicki. Her blond hair and brown eyes gave off an air of conflicting color values, although she always tried to get clothes that matched. She was always a little persnickety about what she wore in an attempt to get people's attention away from the result of an accident involving forty miles per hour, a steep slope, her bike and a tree branch that resulted in an eye being gauged out, forcing her to wear an eye patch or give people the jibblies.

      "You watching over the playpen?"

      Eric looked into the pen to see Jade shaking a rattle and looking through the wall of the pen at Vicki. "Kinda. Yeah, I got duped into it, somehow."

      "In that case, would you mind if I brought my baby sister in?" Vicki asked.

      Eric turned to Jade, who nodded eagerly. "Nope. Knock yourself out."

      "Thanks!" Right as she left, one of the older relatives walked by and saw Jade.

      "…Eric? Uh… you are aware that there's a fox in the pen…? And… Vicki…?"

      "Her name's Jade, Karen. I already explained to mom and Phil. Want a better story? Talk to them." Eric responded without even glancing up.

      "That's bullshit. What kind of disease does she carry? Is it contagious? I'm telling Vicki." Karen said angrily.

      "Feh. What are you, Karen? Racist?"

      "I'm not racist… I'm… I don't want her around the children." Karen stated.

      "Better get used to it. She's family. Eric put plainly.

      "Eric, maybe you have your own notions-"

      "The fur will never fit in, Eric," a not-so-familiar voice interrupted. For the first time in the conversation, Eric glanced up from the magazine. The blond from the airport, Tina, was standing five feet away.

      "Hmm. Got a biology lesson from Phil or mom, have you?" Eric retorted, looking down again at the magazine. "Equal country. Jade stays."

      Tina scuffed. "Some country. I've done my homework. Your country broke off from its parent country searching for freedom only to conduct their own series of racial and religious witch-hunts. Your country is an affront to everything I stand for."

      "Then why are you here?" Eric asked.

      "I came because Samuel asked me to. Otherwise I never would have set foot into this tainted world. History dictates that Jade will be loathed here."

      "Hm." The voice came from behind.

      Vicki, looking at Tina with slight contempt, set down a child who couldn't be older than four, into the playpen. He then began to play with Jade's ears as Jade gave him a hug.

      Eric looked up at Tina victoriously. "I accept your apology."

      Tina scoffed again and walked away.

      "Something's up with Tina and Uncle Sam…" Eric said to Sarah later that evening in Eric's room.

      "Okay… What do you think?" Sarah responded.

      "They're hiding something…" Eric mused.

      "Well, Tina has been acting oddly…"

      "Like how?"

      "Well, I saw that conversation you had with Tina. Some things seem off…"

      "Like what?"

      "Like she has a mindset of a Muslim terrorist, yet is white and wears a cross." Sarah pointed out.  
      "She wears a cross?" Eric asked. "I did not realize that."

      "Look for it next time you see her," Sarah said.

      "I heard Sam and Tina are going somewhere in about a half an hour… I wouldn't put it past them to have something spooky planned…"

      "So what do you propose we do?" Sarah asked.

      "Well… I still have the you-know-what buried under-" He pointed to a spot under a pile of dead, crinkled up leaves and next to a small spruce. "There."

      Sarah's eyes went pale. "No, Eric… I've been trying to forget all that or three years…"

      "Sometimes you have to take up the sword again. Come on. We know something's funky. I'm confidant in my ability to check things out. Please?"

      Sarah sighed. "Fine. But I don't want to go with you. I'm hoping that you're wrong, and that it's just a false alarm."

      "In that case, could you do me a favor and check up on any documents that Tina and Uncle Sam may have been perusing over? I don't think that they'd bring everything there, and I can't be in two places at the same time."

      "If I must. I suppose that'd be another way to tell if you're just overreacting…"

      "Excellent. Thanks, I really appreciate it. I'd better get ready…" Eric said, pulling out a box and ruffling through the contents.

      "I hope you're wrong, Eric…" Sarah muttered.

      "Hey, gimme a hand with these, will you?" Eric asked, pulling out several things Eric had apparently been working on. "And I'll ask you not to poke any buttons on them. And for the love of god, don't open this bag."

      "It's a Ziploc with what appear to be… clear globules of something. What exactly is this?"

      "Well…" Eric said. "I still have some nitroglycerin, from that one failed science experiment? Well… it turns out nitro reacts with Vespene. Yes, okay, I was dimension hopping," he added, seeing Sarah's confused look. "Well… these are extremely powerful smoke bombs. I haven't tested 'em yet, but if what I calculated is correct, these things'll give Bart Simpson a run for his money.

      Sarah sighed. "You know… sometimes I worry about you."

      "Eh. Didn't come without a cost. They were extremely volatile. I had to lubricate them in something my dad would be pissed if he found out I swiped it, and even then, you can't expose very much of them to air."

      "Lovely." Sarah said sarcastically. "How long did it take for you to make this… and those two things?" She pointed to what looked like an extremely cumbersome pair of mechanical gloves and a spray can.

      "Uh…" Eric began, when he heard a downstairs door opening. "Crap. Time up. Better get this over with." He sighed as he raced downstairs. "Wish me luck," He called back to Sarah, strapping the gloves to his waist and putting the other two manufactured gizmos into his pants pockets. Quietly, he opened the door and slipped out of sight.

      Sarah watched him leave from the top of the stairs and listened intently for any sounds from below. Faintly, she could hear voices.

      "Come on, Sam. We're going to be late."

      "Tina, do we really have to? I don't like where things are going recently…"

      "Yes, we do. We're almost done helping Dimension Cache 673… uh… 9… 6…"

      "The Star Fox 'cache'?" Sam asked sulkily. At this, Sarah leaned forward, all the more attentive.

      "Sure. And after the 'Star Fox', world, this one would be a good opportunity to expand on with almost no resistance."

      "The End? Here? I've seen photos from a few people at the Star Fox world… it's horrible! I don't want that here! Do you?"

      "Sam, Star Fox deserved its fate for the resistance it's inhabitants put up. This world has almost destroyed all known inhabitable space. It won't put up much; it _needs_ our help. Let's continue this conversation in the car," Tina said, finalizing the conversation.

      Without a moment to lose after hearing the door close, Sarah dashed to the window to ensure that the pair was leaving. Sure enough, the station wagon lurching around the corner of the block and out of sight.

      _With a familiar passenger clutching to the underside of the car…_ Sarah thought to herself. A shadow could be seen hanging onto the bottom. Wishing for Eric's safety, she turned back promptly bumped into the coffee table.

      "Nngh! Dangit!" Sarah cursed. Being more careful, she slowly felt her way to the den, opening the door do the den and creeping blindly down stairs.

      It had always made Sarah edgy, the dark. All reason told her that, especially in a place like Eric's house, there wouldn't be anything to be afraid of, it still put her on edge. Darkness didn't even faze her earlier in her life. Yet… when it all came back to it, it was "the experience" which taught her that things aren't always what they seem. The dark only clouds things further. Sarah didn't like no longer being able to take things at face value. Not one bit.

      When Sarah felt the stairs cease, she started fumbling for the light switch. Suddenly, bright, white light washed over her. Blessed, blinding light.

      However, it didn't look like there was anything of major interest. No odd papers. Nothing on the ping-pong table or in the TV cabinet in the room. There had to be some kind of clue…

      Sarah was just about to give up when she noticed a tiny sticky note caught in between the creases of the ping-pong table. With the net in the way, you had to be way back in the corner of the room to notice it there.

      Working the note out of the crack in the table, Sarah took a look at it. The writing was nearly microscopic; squinting at it, Sarah realized that whoever wrote it would have had to have the use of a magnifying glass.

      "Eric, anyone who reads this note Eric, hurry. In my room. Big things are happening. Bad people not much time information in my room hurry"

      Sarah stared at the note for a long moment, wondering exactly who would have written such a note. Still, in the back of her mind, she knew. It seemed odd.

      If Eric's Uncle Sam was such a bad person, why was he crying out for help?

      Several minutes later, Eric finally felt the car come to a complete stop. He learned an important lesson about riding underneath cars; speed bumps hurt like crap.

      Taking a moment to clear his head, Eric unfastened his gloves and lowered himself onto the asphalt. He could already see Tina and Sam walking towards what appeared to be a pagoda. Two stone dogs stood on either side of the walkway, guarding the entrance.

      _Well, at least I know where we are,_ Eric thought to himself. _But why'd they come to Grauman's Chinese Theater? Are they actually there for a movie… was I actually… wrong?!_

_      "Well, there's a shocker for you, eh, Eric?" _James said. Eric could hear him grinning.

      _"Think you're so smug…" _Eric grumbled. He started following them at a safe distance. When Tina and Sam got to the door, the opened it, and were beckoned in by a huge brute of a man, standing at least eight feet tall, but it was hard to tell at that distance. It looked odd, though. Maybe Eric couldn't see that well, but it appeared that this man had scales and claws.

      _"I knew inbreeding was a problem among politicians, but that's a new low," _Eric thought.

      _"Shut up, Eric. What does this mean? Is Scales back?" _James retorted.

_      "What?! No! But we won, last time… didn't we?!" _Eric huffed. _"Why are all the villains from your universe impossible to keep down?"_

James ignored him, but remained silent. Knowing better than to walk through the front door, Eric slunk around the building into one of the back entrances into the theater. He tested the knob, turning it slowly, and to his surprise, found it unlocked.

      The interior had curtains surrounding the door, making it impossible to see the door open or close or see away from the door unless you moved them out of the way. Eric was about to part the curtains when James interrupted him.

      _"Never trust to luck," _he warned. _"Karma will only work so many times."_

      _"Since when were you a follower of Samurai beliefs? Or… whatever."_

      Eric felt James shrug. Nonetheless, he still took his word for it. Kneeling down, he parted the curtain at the bottom, using both hands to reduce the amount of actual disturbance.

      A shoe!

      Eric jumped back, then took a closer look. What appeared to be a shoe with the foot pointed away from Eric was right on the other side of the curtain. Had Eric walked through the curtain, he would have collided headlong into someone's back.

      _"Told you so,"_ James said smugly. Eric was about to turn around and leave quietly when he heard people talking. Whoever was talking did so faintly. He must have been speaking to a small crowd without a megaphone. Eric caught some words, like "the" "and" "groups" and "helping", but concern arose when Eric heard the words "dimension" and "End" both seemingly in the same sentence.

      Dwelling hard on any possible consequences on what he was about to do, Eric rolled up the left sleeve on his _Ninj4_ sweater, staring at the wristband he snuck out of the house. Eric wasn't sure why yet, but it allowed him to change into the body of the late James McCloud. Being old, it wasn't that strong, but James had skills in his day, and Eric had discovered firsthand just how much more potent many canine senses are in comparison to human senses.

      He tapped the button on the band twice and instantly a slightly warm fuzzy feeling enveloped his body. Mild, yet sharp pain started in the tips of Eric's fingers as claws grew. Stooping quickly, he untied his tennis shoes with morphing hands as fast as he could before his the changing feet and claws would rip them apart. Another sensation that Eric was still getting use to resembling a three-inch-tall drunken midget climbing out of his face as his head stretched to accommodate a canine muzzle while his ears migrated to the top of his head. Eric stood back up, all changes complete. He turned his new hearing to the room, where things could now be clearly heard.

      The door to Uncle Sam's room opened silently as Sarah's eyes were adjusting to the darkness. It wasn't very difficult to find something; on the other side of Sam's bed, a briefcase was poking out from underneath the covers, and the way the sheets were tucked under the bed exposing more of the briefcase signified the owner wanting it found. It was even unlocked.

      Sarah turned on the lamp lying on top of the dresser and started ruffling through the contents. Most of the papers appeared to be production notices, but one stood out.

"Eric,

      A warning. You may not understand this, but there are a group of people out there who belong to a huge organization called 'The End'. The person who you believe to be my fiancé has merely been assigned to accompany me in the scouting of this universe. For, you see…" Here, the note went into a long, detailed description of how there are different dimensions. Already knowing of other dimensions, Sarah scanned the note to more information of relevance and continued reading. "…And Tina is from one of the other dimensions in which humanoids live.

I want out of The End. But Tina doesn't, and I don't dare step out of line; for she is in a much higher position than I. Penalties for disobedience in The End are… extreme.

Three years ago, The End attempted subtle manipulation of a world people might recognize here as home to the Star Fox heroes. They revived two main antagonists to take over the galaxy there, but were stopped by a human. I don't know what to say; entirely: Tina believes that the fur's presence here leads her to believe that YOU were involved in The End's failure three years ago. Now, they are attempting full-blown invasion of that world. The End has stepped too far; they seem to believe that by annihilating that galaxy, they'll save it. I don't know…

                                          Sam."

      Sarah stared at the note and reread it several times. One thought definitely rang through her mind. If this… "End" was indeed here, and Tina and Sam were involved… she started flipping through more papers. It seemed like whoever these people who Sam was talking about had a small hand everywhere… but especially in the Star Fox world.

      _"Vixy?" _Sarah asked.

      _"Yes?"_ She responded.

      _"We're finally going back to the Star Fox world. I have a bad feeling about things that are going on there…_"

      _"You don't say…_" Vixy muttered sarcastically, having seen everything Sarah saw.

      She scanned Sam's note again, and was brought back to reality that Eric had gone to where Tina and Sam were. Putting everything away and turning off the light, she went downstairs and picked up the cordless phone, dialing Eric's cell phone number.

      She had to warn him.

      "…efforts in the Star Fox place has ransacked the dimension!" Eric heard someone shout. "It's in even worse shape than when we first invaded, sir, and I'm wondering if we're taking the wrong course of action here." A woman's voice.

      "Missus Irrera, I understand how the necessary measures have concerned you regarding the current status of your home plane, but understand, when we are finished, we will fix all the damages." A male voice speaking with a slight Britain accent and half an octave lower than normal.

      "And what are your plans regarding this world, sir?" Another voice came in."

      "The rulers of this world are unfit for rule. When our other projects are finished, it is our desire to turn our attention here." This didn't sound very good. The sound of a heavy door opening and closing. "Ah, commanders Mordrer and Kharmouin are here. They will take over where I have left off."

      "I brought booze!" a somewhat high-pitched voice yelled. Cheers of morale echoed through the room, and in the midst of it all, a groan of discontent.

      "Oh, come on, Mordrer. Please?"

      "No." Even speaking softly, the voice boomed.

      "Please?"

      "No."

      "Not one can? Not one smile? Not one-"

      "No."

      "Wow, man. You ain't-" He paused. A few other people were heard asking Kharmouin things like, "What're you seeing?" Then, Kharmouin muttered, barely audible even to James' superior canine ears. "Something's not right…"

      The clatter of footsteps and other noise permeated through the room, as Eric let James' superior training take over; Eric's fear was getting the better of him. The one called Kharmouin's voice spoke out, and instantly the entire room was silent.

      Cutting through the room came a beeping rendition of _Escape from Disco Mountain._ Eric scrambled for the cell phone with which he was getting a call.

      "Would you be so kind as to open the curtains behind you, Orion?"


	6. Chapter V: What the hell happened here?

_A.N. The early part of this chapter was hell to write. I must've rewrote the first page and a half, two pages about a bajillion times trying to get it to sound right, and I still think I failed. Oh well._

Chapter V

      Sarah paced eagerly back and forth, waiting for Eric to pick up. He couldn't be that far, could he…? A clicking noise.

      "Hello?" Sarah said prematurely.

      "Uh… please hold." It didn't sound like Eric on the other line; but rather, a deeper, husky voice. Another click, followed by a dial tone. However, Vixy recognized the voice.

      _"James?"_

Eric looked up from his cell phone to the opened curtains. He was exposed, horribly exposed… then noticed something about who had opened the curtain. It had… fur.

      The formal term was "anthropomorphic lion", but Eric just noticed the fur, the broad face and the mane. He stood taller than James' 5'9'' frame and stared at him with a look of utter contempt.

      Eric stood up and pointed to the cell phone the lion had just taken from his hand and hung up with. "Can't a guy have a call in peace?" The lion's reply was swift and backhanded.

      Reeling from the blow, Eric heard one of the voices in betwixt the crunching of what was probably James' jaw say, "Bring him here." A moment later, Eric was being grabbed by the immensely strong lion and thrown to his knees.

      "Who are you and what are you doing here?" The deep, booming voice said. "And what are you doing on this planet? Only humans inhabit this planet."

      Eric was about to say, "And your friend here?" But kept quiet as he observed quickly the situation. The one with the deep booming voice was dressed in commander attire and had a… tail?

      Sure enough, this one was another fur, apparently, another lion. Eric looked around the room; save for maybe four humans, everyone in the room was a fur. He then noticed Uncle Sam and Tina. Sure enough, a crucifix was adorning a necklace around Tina's neck.

      "Speak quickly!" The commander boomed. Eric stayed silent as, with one hand, started fiddling in his jacket for a certain plastic bag…

      "Do you know who you are in the presence of?!" The commander bellowed. "I am General Dominic Mordrer, and you will **speak**!"

      _Almost there…_ Eric thought. "Does everyone here have a funky title like that?"

      Eric wondered if Mordrer's face could go a deeper shade of purple through the mane. One of the few humans by Mordrer's side with a particular gangly look, a twinkle in his black eyes and a bright yellow Mohawk said goofily, "Aw, hell, man, I'm just Kharmouin-" and was interrupted as Mordrer elbowed him in the stomach.

      "Won't speak?! Here then. _Vitặs Mốrtĕs.._." Mordrer began incanting.

      _There!_

      Kharmouin's eyes lit up. "He's got toys!" Instead of his happy-go-lucky grin that he had maintained up to now, his face went from grinning to worried in nanoseconds.

      Eric threw down the ripped-open plastic bag, newly-tattered from James' claws, holding his breath and kicking off of Mordrer, pulling on Orion's mane to flip over him and land behind. Eric barely had time to bless James' acrobatic training when gray-green smoke smashed him in the face, totally overwhelming all senses. The pungent gas from Eric's home-made smoke globules was doing its job on the furs with extreme senses of smell, but it was nearly incapacitating to James, with his canine nose.

      The usual plethora of cried comments from people who just had a hostage escaped clanged off room walls when somehow, upon falling over, Eric fell into the curtains. Lunging forward, he found the door and fell out, hacking to get the overpoweringly bitter fumes from his lungs. Still partially dizzy from the vapors, Eric halfheartedly spun around, pulling the aerosol can from his belt, and hit the nozzle.

      Dark gray liquid sprayed from the top of the, solidifying in midair and sticking to the door. Eric froze, staring at the door, with the curiosity of every prodigious inventor… _Did it work?_

      James forcibly snapped Eric out of it, telling him to twist the nozzle around and run like hell. Even sixty yards away, attempts to get the now-extremely stuck door open could be heard, and other doors could be heard opening. Running as fast as James' old legs would carry him, Eric aimed the twisted-nozzle can at the ground and fired.

      This time, it was a light-gray mixture, and upon hitting the ground spread over the ground, like a sheet of ice growing on fast-forward. Eric jumped on the puddle and skidded along the ground. The light-gray liquid had the opposite effect; creating a near-frictionless environment to either skid at high velocities or keep foes on the ground. It took all of James' reflexes to stay on his feet.

      Tseew!

      An almost cartoonish bang sound, followed by a flash of red light arced past Eric, starting a small fire on a birch in the arc of fire. Just as Eric had almost gotten out of the parking lot, another Tseew! and a burning pain enveloped his abdomen. Gazing down, the familiar blaster shots had burned a hole in Eric's side. He fell to his knees.

      The street was slanted downhill ever so slightly, and Eric, at the mercy of inertia, sprayed more of the slippery goo to continue the slide into the middle of the street.

      Loud whirring sound…

      Suddenly, James couldn't see, just blinding white light. The world started quaking all around him, and Eric could only barely make out the front bumper of an eighteen-wheeler. He rolled towards the curb and felt an ungodly jolt sweep him off the ground and drag him along the street.

      Eric was dragged for almost an entire block before the as-then-unnoticed squeal of the brakes brought the truck to a halt. Eric hit the button on his wristband, changing back into his normal form and untangling the hood of his sweatshirt from the helper-stair that it had gotten caught on.

      The door opened and a trucker with a mullet, trailer-mustache, burly limbs and a beer belly stepped onto the street and stared at a now-human and shoeless Eric Shroud. "Shit, kid!" He looked Eric up and down. Eric stole a glance at the theater, but it had fallen deathly silent. "What happened? Are you okay?"

      Eric gave him a look that could kill. "I fell. Does it look like I'm okay?!"

      The trucker looked him over. "The name's Karl. Hey, you need a ride anywhere? I'll take you, my way of saying 'please don't press charges.'"

      A small grin played over Eric's face. Guess his race wasn't all bad… "Sure. That'd be great."

      As he walked back around the truck to get in the passenger side, he caught a glimpse of the one with the yellow Mohawk. Kharmouin. His gaze was so intense that Eric could almost feel it search his soul.

      The truck driver dropped Eric off roughly a block away from his house ("Sure you're okay?" "Yeah.") and started walking, trying to piece together the things he'd heard. Star Fox world? What were they smoking? And for Kharmouin's goofball behavior, something about him didn't sit well.

      _"I want you to head back to my home dimension,"_ James commanded.

      "It can't wait this time, can it?"

      _"No. We saw a lot those three years ago, and something's happening there. We go NOW."_

      "Suspected you'd say that. Well, we'd better get Sarah…"

      Eric had no sooner opened the door when Sarah bounded into him, locking him in a worry-induced bearhug. "What happened?" Sarah said, concern in her eyes. She noticed his thrashed sweater. "Was there… a confrontation?"

      "Not really. That came from my great escape, and it's going to take freaking forever to make those gas grenades again…"

      "Eric, listen! I found this note in one of Sam's briefcases. Something's happening! And Vixy won't leave me alone about going back to the Star Fox world…"

      Eric scanned the note, recounting what had happened to him in between paragraphs. He looked up at Sarah as he finished and headed back up to his room.

      "Where are you going?" Sarah asked.

      "I'm getting the sunglasses. There's something going on in the Star Fox universe, and we gotta go. We owe it to Fox, and you owe it to Jade. Wait a minute… yours are in Wisconsin, aren't they?"

      "Well…" Sarah said meekly. "I brought them here… Just in case."

      Eric grinned, the spark of adventure in his eye. Tiptoeing up the stairs as not to wake anybody, they crept into their rooms and emerged with the sunglasses. Sarah also had a familiar-looking armband. Looking at each other, they slowly slid it over their heads, concentrating on elements of three years past.

      Fox McCloud.

      Corneria.

      Venom.

      Andross.

      All the colors around them bled into one, and when they faded, they were in a far different place.

      Before they opened their eyes, it felt extremely hot. They didn't get transported to Titania… did they? Sarah and Eric both opened their eyes. Sarah recoiled in shock, Eric sunk to his knees as if he'd been struck in the gut.

      "No… Noooo!"

      They were in a countryside, but as far as appearances went, that was it. All the way to the horizon, it was ravaged. All over the place, it appeared as if the blight of death had struck every plant. Grass was shriveled and brown beneath their feet, and all the trees seemed to have long since lost their leaves. A straw village was on fire and slowly smoldering to the ground, and the stench of the dead was everywhere. Dead and dying Earthwalker triceratops dinosaurs lay on the ground in the village, entrails splattered over the ground in a horrid gore-fest.

      "What… happened?" Sarah said. The image would forever be tattooed on the inside of her eyelids.

      "This…" Eric couldn't get the words out. They started to form, but a bubble in his throat prevented him from speaking properly. "This… is where I first… touched ground in the Star Fox world… we're on Dinosaur Planet…" And with that, he dashed towards the village.

      "Eric, wait!" Sarah called after him, but he was already out of immediate earshot. She started to race after him, then caught sight of the sky. Normally blue and peaceful, horrid yellow smog clouds blotted out all traces of Solar, the sun of Lylat. For a brief moment, a hole in the clouds appeared, and what appeared to be singing flames roared through the hole before the haze barrier prevented. She then turned and followed Eric down the hill. She could already hear him questioning the still living Earthwalkers, but without any luck at all. They all either eyed him with hatred, or shirked away from him like Dark Age peasants from lepers.

      "What happened?" He repeated the question over and over to deaf ears. Sarah looked all around, but all she could see was wanton destruction. An oddly shaped yellow rock caught her attention.

      She kneeled down to inspect it with trembling hands as screaming, fire and death raged through her ears. It felt nowhere near as hard or rough as a rock… and there were jagged edges on one side, but none on the other. Blood covered one side.

      _"Can I have a sniff?" _Vixy asked. Sarah answered by pressing the button of her armband, and felt the Novocain feel of her body reshaping to Vixy's appearance.

      With the heightened lupine senses, Vixy took a whiff, and stopped to think. "This happened no more than two days ago. I can't get any scents off stone itself… but the blood… Oh my god…"

      Eric stopped shouting long enough to notice Sarah had turned into Vixy. He turned to her direction. "What's going on?"

      "The smell of blood… I recognize it…" Her face became as ghostly pale as is noticeable with fur.

      "Well, who's it to?" Eric said, eyes darting nervously around the chaos-torn landscape.

      Eric followed Vixy's gaze as she stared at a figure just leaning out of a straw house. An azure, lumpy pile of bloody feathers lay in the doorway. Vixy immediately ran towards the door.

      "Falco!" Vixy cried. Eric stumbled, then proceeded to help Vixy lift Falco's body up. Horrid amounts of blood had soaked the nearby ground, and a peice of his beak had gotten broken off by something. Eric choked on his own breath, then tried again.

      "Is he…?"

      "No. Almost. We have to get him medical care!" Sarah cried out, then tried carrying him, before Eric shouted out.

      "Don't try to move him, it may aggravate something!" He cried out, not realizing the situation.

      "Eric, he'll die if he stays here," Sarah said with deathly calm.

      Eric sighed and helped to slowly ease Falco over their shoulders. "I have an idea, an extraordinarily stupid idea, but it's all I have. We need to get him to my dad."

      Eric's father was a physician at Las Angeles hospital who shared Eric's adaptability to strange situations.

      "Take him home? But what about the other guests…"

      "They're leaving in two days. And there's no other way," Eric said with finality.

      "Survivors!" An unfamiliar voice shouted.

      On the horizon, several dark shapes were starting to come out of the nearby woods.

      "No time. We have to go!" Eric said quickly. Sarah stepped back and removed her shades as Eric, arm around Falco, took his off.

      When the color whirlwind subsided, they found themselves back at Eric's house, an unconcsious being supported by the two of them. In the dead silence of the bottom floor the labored breathing of the avian between them could be heard.

      Without a word, they took Falco upstairs. Sarah took Falco into Eric's bedroom and lay him on the bed. Eric went off to find some towels and the first-aid kit, as Sarah hurried to alert Eric's father, Steve Shroud. She knocked softly on the door. No response. She tried again.

      A muffled moan came from beyond the door. "Mr. Shroud?"

      "What...?" Was the grumpy-sounding reply.

      "Can you come out? This is an emergency..." Sarah asked.

      "What's going on?" Maria's voice asked.

      "I'll be right out..." Steve said.

      An agonizingly long two minutes later, Steve emerged from the door. Steve Shroud was a slightly husky man in his mid-forties. Besides brown eyes and a large build, nearly all physical characteristics were inherited by Eric, right down to the nigh-uncontrollable near-black hair.

      "What's the problem?"

      "Have you seen Jade yet?"

      "Listen, you and Maria may have taken her into your hearts,-" Sarah's face fell as she thought that the prejudice shown by Karen and Tina would begin to spew out of Steve's mouth, "-But she needs to be tested. Foreign life forms can have all kinds of communicable diseases-"

      Sarah interrupted him. "Listen, we need you to help treat someone, but he's someone like Jade..."

      "Wait a minute, like-" Steve was stopped when he caught a glimpse of Falco's battered body. "What the...?"

      "Will you treat him?"

      "Where'd he come from?"

      "Never mind that. Will you look after him and get him healthy again?"

      Eric interrupted, coming back up the stairs. "I got some towels, blankets and the first-aid kit. Oh, hey, dad."

      "What the hell is going on here?!" Steve demanded.

      "Look. This guy is a friend of ours, and where he comes from, things are not going very well at all."

      "I know this is going to be difficult for a man of science to accept, Mr. Shroud," Sarah said gently. "But in a world beyond ours, we need to set things right."

      Steve looked at Eric, then Sarah, then Falco, as if fighting a battle with his soul. "Please?" Sarah peeped.

      Steve frowned. "Alright."

      "And you can tell mom and Phil, but don't tell anyone else, ESPECIALLY Sam and Tina. In fact, don't let anyone else in my room, dad," Eric said with more authority than he was used to commanding.

      "Mr. Shroud, we are going to have to go away for a bit. I don't know for how long, but we have to right some wrongs. Don't worry for us, Mr. Shroud. We'll make it. And please, look after Jade, I don't want her exposed to what we may be exposed to."

      Steve stared at Falco for a good long while. Finally he said, "How urgent is this?"

      "Pretty damn," was Eric's reply. "Are you going to fix him up?"

      "Alright. Is there anything else that I need to know?" Steve asked.

      "No. Just look after yourself. And remember, DON'T LET SAM OR TINA IN." Sarah said firmly.

      Steve stood by Falco's side for over an hour, and finally he said, "Okay, he's stable. I'll try to moniter him later, but it'll be hard without equipment from work."

      "Oh yeah. Don't let other people like work people know about this either." Eric muttered.

      With Falco safe, Sarah went to her bed, and Eric slept in a sitting-position guarding the door.

      Sarah tossed and turned throughout the night. Nightmares kept returning, images of Dinosaur Planet in it's horror-wracked state, always ending with an image of a bloodshot eye of a massacared Earthwalker, staring into the beyond even as the eye itself could not see. Sarah bolted awake to hear Vixy whispering softly into her mind.

      _"You may not always like what becomes of worlds, but all things can be changed in time. What you have to do is discern what you want to do with the time that is given to you."_

Slightly calmed by Vixy's words, Sarah sank into a dreamless sleep.


	7. Chapter VI: Some notsocomforting news

Chapter VI

      "You sure you want to do this?" Steve asked.

      It was six-thirty in the morning, and Sarah, Eric, Steve, Maria and Phil were gathered in Eric's room. Sarah and Eric explained things as best they could, but their minds were still having trouble wrapping themselves around the reality.

      "Yeah," Eric said.

      "Understand, we have a bit of an obligation to that place," Sarah said patiently. "And, well... we gotta do something."

      Phil walked over and put his hand on Sarah's shoulder. "I have faith in you."

      Sarah smiled. Eric dug out a two long objects draped in cloth, one longer than the other, and pulled out his sunglasses. Sarah took out hers and without another word, left the room and put them on.

      And it was not until this moment that it suddenly dawned on the adults in the room that they might not see either of them again.

      Returning to the scene of the battered land, Sarah half hoped that what they saw was a dream, even though they brought back tangible proof that it wasn't. Nothing had changed, except that most of the buildings had burned to the ground and there were no more signs of life.

      "We'd best get moving, then," Eric said, unravelling one of the long bundles of cloth and handing the other to Sarah.

      "Moving where?" Sarah asked.

      "DP City. Where else?" Eric scoffed. "I figure that's the best place to find answers," He had gotten finished unraveling his cloth bundle, to reveal a sword in it's scabbard and _Eric J. McCloud_ engraved on the hilt and, as Eric looked at the blade, _Murasma_ on the blade. He shouldered the sword. "It's been too long since I've held this..." Eric muttered. Sarah unraveled her bundle to reveal the bow she had brought along on her trip, the Beamstriker.

      They hiked on without a word between the two. After almost a half an hour, Eric stopped suddenly. "I thought we had to keep moving?" Sarah said, turning around.

      "More bittersweet memories," Eric said. "I remember this spot. We first met Fox here... remember?"

      Sarah looked around. In her memory, the road was one worn by frequent travel, a boulder on the side of the road and a grove of lush, evergreen trees a half-mile east of the road. In the reality, the road was dirtied, the trees scorched and the rock graffitied with slogans of a civilization brought to near extinction. One, "THE END IS EXTREMELY FUCKING NIGH" stood out like a beacon fire in the center.

      Shortly thereafter, the tips of the buildings at DP city could be seen at the horizon. When they got to the city, however, it didn't seem that bad. Sure, there was the occasional broken shop window or sign of recent violence, but nothing like the ruin that befell the other city.

      "I'm confused…" Eric said, scratching his head. "The planet looks like it got hit with a celestial hammer after being set ablaze with a blowtorch, but how come this place doesn't look so bad?"

      "Um, Eric?" Sarah asked, pointing in the direction of the store ("Baron Barry's Bazaar of the Bizarre"). A notice was in the window:

THIS NOTICE IS APPROVED BY THE CORNERIAN INTELLIGENCE AGENCY 

Until further notice, any and all humans are to be brought in for questioning. Bounty of 1,000 x will be issued to anyone who brings in these beings.

_Examples of humans:_

      Here, it had pictures and names of Eric, Sarah, both of which showed pictures at least three years old and Eric with bruises, a man called Jack Chaykin, and an artists rendition of someone with a bright yellow Mohawk and gangly limbs, Instead of a name, a note was posted:

This one is Wanted for crimes against Lylat and for association with the organization that has set itself against Lylat. Bounty is 150,000x, **_DEAD OR ALIVE_**_._

_If anyone has any information regarding any whereabouts, contact any of the following organizations_.

      Here, it listed the access numbers for the Cornerian Intelligence Agency, the Galactic Police Patrol, the Grey Huskies and the Venomian Galactic Law Enforcement.

      "I think I see what you're getting at. We should go in fur cognito so as not to get picked up by the fuzz, no pun intended?" Eric asked.

      Sarah rolled her eyes and looked closely at the notice again. "That's what I was originally getting at… but two things stand out. One: Where the hell is Fox's number? Weren't they famous, the galaxies last line of defense against invasion? The other one is: What is a Venom access number doing searching for criminals?"

      "Uh, three things. Where the hell did they get our pictures?" Eric mused.

      "Well, they got my picture when they gave me the Captain award, which I just remembered I left the badge at home. And you… probably when they took a medical record, as evidenced by the bruises and the puffy face in your picture."

      "Where the hell did you get these powers of observation, anyway?" Eric asked in awe."

      "I watch a lot of Case Closed. We should go fur and try to get some answ-"

      "Hold on." Sarah was interrupted by a voice to her left. An ape wearing a tan trench coat and a stern stare glared at the human pair, then glanced at the poster on the wall, then back at the human pair. His right hand was suspiciously behind his back and he kept eyeballing Eric's sword and Sarah's bow. "I think you'd better come with me."

      "Listen, I don't have any time to play games with-" Eric started, trademark distrust of others creeping into his voice.

      "Okay… what do you want?" Sarah said before Eric could continue with anything else possibly damaging to an already-failing reputation. "We just got into town today…"

      The ape's eyes darted toward the poster again. "Your weapons."

      Eric looked at the handle of the sword as Sarah removed the bow from her shoulder. "Mur-… My sword? Uh…"

      The ape pulled his hand out from behind his back and pointed a blaster right between Eric's eyes. "I asked you nicely the first time, human. Throw down the sword."

      "Excuse me, but isn't this going a little far?" Sarah asked, stepping back a little bit.

      "In this day and age, you can't go too far. Human, **give me the weapon**."

      His attention focused on Eric, Sarah tried reaching down for Beamstriker. The ape looked up slightly and roundhouse kicked Sarah in the stomach, knocking the air out of her.

      Eric gaped. "You bastard!" His hand went to the handle of the sword, but before he could react, a sudden, numbing pain emenated from his forehead. He lost all consciousness and fell to the ground.

      It seemed to take Eric forever to fall. Sarah lay, mouth gaping open, at Eric's body after the ape shot him in the head with the blaster. All Sarah could hear was the electric zapping noise playing in her head repeatedly. Gathering her bearings, she scrambled to her feet and was halted by the ape speaking.

      "Give me a reason to do it, and I swear I will."

      Sarah's eyes glanced back at Eric, slumped on the ground. "He'll live. Humans robbed me of my home and family, and I'm left with nothing. If I had my way, he wouldn't wake up again, but to me right now, one thousand credits is a lot of money."

      "What do you want?" Sarah asked, wondering how Eric could survive a blaster bolt to the brain.

      "For you and your friend here to come with me to Corneria. I have a bounty to collect. And if you refuse to come, then neither of you are going to see tomorrow."

      Sarah took another look at Eric, slumped on the ground. Standing up and hanging her head, she kicked Beamstriker towards the ape.

      "I knew you'd understand."

      The ape had Sarah hoist Eric up and brought them to a small, privately-owned hangar a block and a half away from the conflict. A small, personal-transport ship was docked in one of the hangars. A winter wolf waited by the ship as the ape unceremoniously shoved Eric and Sarah into the transport.

      "So who are these, Dom?"

      "I found them by Barry's. They were found outside the Bazaar with these." He held up Murasma and Beamstriker.

      "Armed, huh? What'd you going to do with them?"

      "Take them to Pepper and collect our bounty. Then stick around; the General pays well."

      They sat Sarah down as she took stock of her surroundings. The ship was small; she just saw a large door with "Control Room," a room marked "Armory," and four doors. The small room she was in had the standard small-airlock, two small sofas, a coffee table and a TV, with the table welded to the floor. The ape, Dom, handcuffed Eric and Sarah to the table and went into the Control Room. The wolf came in shortly afterwards.

      "So, what's going on?"

      The wolf introduced himself. "I'm Gregory, but the others call me Greg. The ape is Dominic, and he's a big grouch but is handy in a fight. Two others who aren't in this room are Aaron, a boar pilot and tactition who I've been buds with from the start, and Dave, a chameleon with a smattering in black ops.

      "So what do you want with me?" Sarah asked.

      "Well… you could say we're bounty hunters. We were kind of on the scene for a while, getting small jobs every now and then, but then your kind showed up…

      "Ever since me and my friend Eric showed up, it seems that there's been a stigma toward our race…"

      "It kind of is like that. Lylat is being invaded, and it isn't by Venom this time. We've seen your kind, and it's always for bad."

      "Not all humans are the same, Greg…" Sarah said softly.

      "I'd like to believe you. But I can't. We'll see what Pepper says."

      And he returned to one of the rooms in the back without another word.

Up in the cockpit…

      While Aaron was starting the engine, Dom looked out the opaque airshield. "Do you think the humans are going to be up to something?" Dom asked.

      Aaron looked his way from flipping various switches. "Personally, I don't think so, but we still need to get them to Corneria before we can pass judgement."

      "It was peculiar…" Dom mused. "These humans pictures were actually on one of those posters. The ones asking everyone to bring humans in?"

      "Yeah…" Aaron responded. The ship started to fly upwards.

      "It means that either they were in prison, unlikely, given that the pictures weren't standard-issue prison pictures, they look too young for standard prison, and their garb… or…"

      They were getting higher into the atmosphere now. Far below, they could see a large explosion occurring in the Cloudpeak Mountains a ways away. Aaron squinted at it as Dom finished his sentence.

      "…or they were here before…"

      In his cabin, Greg smiled.

It took nearly seven hours, but the ship finally slowed down and stopped. None of the crewmembers gave the humans a second look or even any conversation, although Greg and Aaron stopped by the table twice to give them meals. It was strange… The ones she had seen had graying hair, as if they were getting on in years. Not too late to be starting a bounty-hunting career, she supposed.

Eric was still unconscious, but as the ship slowed down slightly, indicating handcuffs, he started to stir a little.

"Well, we're here. You two ready to go?" Greg came in with a singsong stride and a cheerful voice as if he was about to head into the best amusement park in town. Pulling out a small key, he unlocked the handcuffs and hoisted Eric up.

"Aren't you going to use some kind of restraining device or something?" Sarah asked suspiciously, noticing the non-violence utilized by Greg and Dave.

"Not unless you do something. Then I'll sic Dom and Dave on you." Greg said with a slight grin. Sarah shuddered.

Dave opened the door of the ship and the sight of what Sarah would later learn to be Kivan, a small urban city near Corneria's equator, laid itself before Sarah's eyes. Corneria seemed largely untouched by whatever calamity befell Dinosaur Planet. The sky was still blue and the clouds weren't as abundant, and things weren't on fire. It certainly wasn't pristine, and there were a few windows broken here and there, or the sign of a small struggle, but nothing like the ransacking of Dinosaur Planet.

      Sarah looked around a bit. "Greg, know that I take this as a good thing, but how come this place hasn't been hit as hard as Dinosaur Planet? If these guys are such a threat, wouldn't Corneria be a prime target?"

      Greg looked at her. "Well, I can tell you that this is a minor case of damage here, and that Dinosaur Planet, among Aquas, and Titania, have been the ones most closely attacked among Lylat. As for why, I wouldn't be allowed to tell you if I knew."

      Sarah walked in quiet thinking as the others walked with her to a somewhat small building which could pass itself off as the town hall. No, escorted is a better word, Sarah thought. None of them have let me more than eight feet away from them, and Dom hasn't let me out of his sight the entire trip.

      A bulldog met them at the front steps. "Here to collect on the bounty?" He asked.

      "Yes. I think Pepper might also want to ask this one some questions." Greg said. Something about the way his eyes sparkled…

      "And the male?" The bulldog asked.

      "I don't know what else to do with him, he'll be out for at least another hour," Dom said sulkily.

"Eh, put him in a cell, I guess, but make him comfy." Greg said.

      "Make him comfy?" Dom said angrily. "Are you insane?"

      "Stay calm, Dom," Aaron said meekly.

      "A cell?!" Sarah shrieked. "Why?!?"

      "Don't worry, Sarah," Greg said, eyes closed and slightly smiling. The others developed outward gazes. "If your story checks out, both you and him will be alright."

      With that they dragged Eric off and escorted Sarah inside.

      Vixy was preoccupied. _"How did he know your name?"_

      Eric woke up with a splitting headache. He experienced migraine headaches before, but this one felt like having a migraine headache at the exact moment a hangover would kick in.

      In a short while, the dull throbbing eased from apocalyptic to merely torturous, and Eric could actually see what was in his cell. It seemed pretty roomy, and the only thing that seemed out of place was that a semi-quality padded chair seemed to be added in what was otherwise a dirty and poorly maintained room.

      Eric checked his possessions. He had nothing but the clothes on his back, so an escape would have to be improvised. He checked the trashcan for anything of value but was merely rewarded with soiled hands.

      He went to wash his hands when he heard a voice: "Another human? Where'd you come from?"

      _"What the-?!"_ James said, startled. Eric turned his head toward the voice. A man, human, was three cells down and had taken notice of Eric. He stood roughly six feet, maybe slightly smaller with bright red hair. He seemed fair-complexioned, but further detail was not possible at the distance between their cells. "Uh… not necessarily… who the hell are you?"

      With an irked expression, the man responded. "I'm Chaykin. Jack Chaykin."


	8. Chapter VII: Mission to Allahor

"I'm Chaykin. Jack Chaykin," the other human responded. He spoke with a mild French accent and carried in his voice a cocky attitude that had been recently humbled. Possibly several times.

"'Chaykin, Jack Chaykin?'" Eric echoed, cocking an eyebrow. "Don't you sound important. I'm McCloud, Eric McCloud."

Jack ignored him, or at least looked like it. "You're human?"

"You're very perceptive," Eric interjected.

"Odd…" Jack went in to a pose of thought, sitting down on the bench in his cell and putting his hand on his chin. "I thought I was the only human here. You're the first other one I've seen."

"Odd… including myself, you're the third I've seen actually working for those yahoos," Eric said.

"You mean the Enders?" Jack asked.

"Say what? That sounds like a bad group of villains from the fourteenth season of Power Rangers. Let me guess; they say they End things?"

Jack groaned. "No. So are you against the 'yahoos" as you call them, or are you working for them?"

"I think it's pretty obvious that I ain't," Eric retorted.

Jack's face contorted, as if he were remembering something painful. "I'm not normally untrustworthy, but waaaay too many things have been trying to kill me recently. How do I know you are on my side?" He asked.

"Um…" Eric was getting irked at this guy. "I'm in here too?"

"That doesn't necessitate that we're on the same side. You could have been an Ender that got captured."

Eric inhaled. Hope this works… "I swear on my father's grave with my mother's sword, I'll have nothing to do with whatever force you call Enders and whatever force decimated Dinosaur Planet."

At the same time: "Uh… okay then."

_"Eric, your father's alive and the closest thing your mom has to a weapon is the vacuum cleaner," _James reminded him.

"Hey, shut up…" Eric muttered.

"Say what? Uh… are you okay?" Jack asked, joking threatening to creep into an otherwise concerned tone.

"Huh? Yes, I'm fine!" Eric snapped.

"I have a question. How can you see through those things?" Jack asked.

"Through what? Oh," Eric said, feeling his face and seeing the sunglasses. "You know what? I've had them on for so long I don't realize my view's dimmed…"

"Can you see you're in a cell?" Jack jested.

"Yes, Jack ass. Are you done joking?" Eric demanded. Jack shrugged. Silence fell on the two humans until finally, Eric spoke again. "Hey… by any chance… there isn't anyone in this dimension who's looking for you, is there?"

Jack looked up to where he went to lie down during the moment of silence. "Yes. A pink tabby cat. Uh, not animal…" Eric interrupted what was sounding like an explanation of anthropomorphs with a series of sub-vocalized dismissions, followed by a gesture to proceed. "Er, okay. I met up with her briefly, but was separated shortly afterwards after a hideout in the nearby mountains. Odd, she seemed angry with me and disillusioned at the same time…"

Eric nodded. "I think I can inference something. Did she say something about how long you were gone?"

"Well, she was about to while she was angry with me…"

"Jack, I think I know who you're talking about. Three years ago, she told me a Jack Chaykin was eight years overdue for a visit," Eric said. Jack's eyes widened. "And, three years later… I don't know how long she expected you to be gone, Jack. But you took eleven sweet years to return."

"Here's the girl, General." Greg said, bringing Sarah into Pepper's makeshift office. Pepper was melancholically looking out the window, hands behind his back.

"The boy?"

"In the cell. He's still out cold from his run-in with Dom," Greg responded.

Pepper rolled his eyes. "Couldn't keep the cargo intact, could you? Nevermind, it was probably unavoidable," he added before Greg did anything. "Thank you, O'Donnell. The secretary has your paycheck for both, plus a bonus for such a timely manner."

_O'Donnell?!_

"Thank you, General." And with that Greg walked around the door.

"Take a seat." The general said. It didn't sound like an invitation, more like an order. Sarah sat in a chair by the door obediently. "I wish I could pretend that this is a pleasant visit. But, I can't." He said somberly. Sarah nodded acceptance. "When the first human arrived, I feared this would happen. I had one of my operatives to follow the first human, try and find out if there was a fleet ready for Lylat. Then, he left, despite my operative's best efforts. Then, eight years later, you and Eric show up. And now this." He waved out the window for emphasis. "Something I wonder, though. Both you and the first human exhibited extraordinary heroism before your departure. I have pondered for over two years why you would save a world you intend to destroy. What do you have to say on behalf of your race?"

"Only that each human is different, just as each anthro is different. The wolves of Corneria may be the same or different than the wolves of Venom, just as two humans are different from one another. Neither Eric nor myself had anything to do with these invaders, and I don't know about the other human. Belief or disbelief rests with you."

Pepper just grimaced as he hung his head. "You say you had an operative? Would I know him?"

Pepper looked up, his face blank. "Her. And while you have known her, she wasn't in our employ at the time. We discharged her after the first human left."

"So you can't reach her… not easily, at least. What was her name?"

"…So you got in bed with Katt Monroe?!" Eric gasped, tenderly cupping his groin. "Wouldn't that hurt?"

Eric and Jack, out of nothing else to do, were telling tales of their adventures, Eric out of boredom, and Jack out of wanting to know how Katt was doing.

Jack narrowed his eyes. "Well… she was showing an unusual amount of interest in me at that point in time. It was odd, because up until then, she seemed at best, indifferent."

"Yeah…" Eric said quietly. "And right before Sarah and I went home, Katt looked disappointed as all hell…"

"You stay away from her…" Jack warned.

"Pshh! She's all yours," Eric exclaimed. "And besides, it wasn't that way… it was more like she was worried… And you know who also had a similar expression? General Pepper."

"So now I'm going to give you two offers," Pepper said. "Someone who traveled with during your last visit here was sent back to her planet in order to discern any of these new threats. Do you remember Eclipse Passion?"

"Yes," Sarah replied simply.

"She was sent six months ago to her home planet Allahor to determine if the threat currently facing Lylat spread to Allahor's solar system, and we have not heard from her since. Your choices are to investigate what happened, or spend the remainder of your days in a cold cell."

Sarah measured her options. She came to check up on this world, only to find things had gone to hell. She could leave at any time, but something in her felt the urge of the hero. With no deliberation in her voice, she looked Pepper in the eye and said, "I'll do it."

Pepper paused before responding. "The only reason I'm offering this chance is because of your heroism last time you were here. I don't want to withdraw a chance to redeem yourself from what you claim to be a species error. Don't let me down, Sarah." The last sentence was in a tone of voice that almost passed itself off as pleading, but not quite.

He regained his composure. "You will set forth with Mr. Shroud and another you have not met, Mr. Chaykin tomorrow. O'Donnell has volunteered his ship. As per dealings, a Watchdog personal SecuriBot will be assigned to you. With a strong interest in your well being, I suggest you not stray the course. Until tomorrow, you will be forced to stay in one of the cells."

"But-" Sarah started.

"I'm sorry, Sarah. But this was all I could do. I couldn't offer any temporary comforts for the time being. Again, I apologize. That was all. I shall send O'Donnell to your cell tomorrow morning at five hundred hours." With that, he reached a hand under his desk and a minute and a half later, a small and thin armadillo and what appeared like an anthro dragon dressed in army fatigues appeared by the door. The general turned his chair around to look out the window again, as the dragon beckoned for Sarah to stand up and follow. She did, and was lead to a small jail block. Eric was in one cell, and another human was in another one.

"-And that's how I wound up here," Eric was saying. "Oh, hey Sarah," he added, noticing Sarah. "Jack Chaykin, Sarah Terminham," Eric introduced as the guards pushed Sarah into her cell and locked the door. "Have you noticed how often crap like this happens? It really pisses me off…"

Sarah left Eric and Jack to their bickering and rested, waiting the approaching dawn.

"When you get to Allahor, the ship has powerful communication hardware, so just report to the General the situation when you find out," Greg instructed. "Good luck."

The trio went inside and the door closed automatically, and a faint hum could be heard, followed by mild vibration.

"Wait a minute, who's flying?" Jack said, suddenly.

"Eh, watchbot," Eric said grumpily. "Sarah, tell me, just how many safety measures are they taking to ensure we don't slack off?"

"A lot. It's probably a watchbot flying, actually. Pepper said something about it," Sarah responded.

The door to the bridge opened, seemingly on its own. Jack jumped at the sudden noise, bringing Eric to giggles. "Jumpy?"

Before Jack could respond, an almost four-foot humanoid robot walked through. Instead of legs, though, it moved on treads, and above them, a torso that resembled muscled cuirass. It had a gray, flat robotic head that seemed familiar, and a long pincer arm and a shorter one that looked more like a regular arm, but it looked like various paraphernalia came out of the fingers.

"Why is it that they try to make every single robot nowadays look impressive? Muscled torso plating?" Eric said out loud.

"Welcome to the White Wolf. I am Bob128, watchbot of the Cornerian Army. Current mission is to ensure that the three humans complete mission code s1l8." It said.

Eric's eyes went wide. He recognized the voice, and could see why the head rang a bell.

"Holy hell… Rob?!"

"You know what this means, right?" Jack said.

"Oh yeah. Star Fox is fucked.__


	9. Chapter VIII: Embarkment and recovery

_Editor's Note: This has been done for awhile, and while I originally felt that I should have added something to it, I just now had a revelation that the ending was alright as is. Enjoy, and sorry about the wait! E.D._

Chapter VIII

"How do you know this?" Sarah asked.

"I don't for sure. But the head looks almost identical to what Rob's looked like, and the voice is identical. My guess is they replaced the chassis, changed his movement mode and made him more of a warbot. With the proper tools…" He twitched his arm and a Philips screwdriver popped out of his sweater sleeve. "…I might be able to confirm my theory."

A double clicking sound Bob's hand arm, which had lost the hand and was replaced at the wrist with what resembled a blaster cannon, was aimed at Eric's face.

"Don't Count On It. Scumbag."

"Or not." Eric put the screwdriver away and Bob lowered his arm. Jack went to the back cabins to look for anything left to them and Eric and Sarah sat down as Bob went back into the bridge.

"So what do you think of that Jack dude?" Eric asked.

"I don't know… I only really heard him and you complaining last night, and a little bit of you explaining our last outage here…" A long and uncomfortable silence. "You didn't tell him about…" she pointed to her armband.

"James and Vixy? I never got that far. I just kind of explained an adventure, the bare-bones part, and how I got here. Besides, how do you explain something like that?"

The sound of a door closing. Eric cocked an eyebrow, and Sarah called into the back. "Jack?"

For awhile, no answer. No sooner did Eric take a step forward, though, then, Jack's voice called out from one of the bedrooms. "I've been looking though some of the stuff in here. Apparently, they expect things to get nasty. They've got my gun here. I don't suppose you two have any weaponry?" He asked.

"I didn't know it was possible to miss em," Eric said.

"What in blazes do you mean by- HOLY HELL!" Jack cried.

"And we may never know…" Eric said, a tone of mourning in his voice.

"What do you have in these?" Jack said, walking in, Murasma in one hand, Beamstriker in the other.

"Magic." Eric said plainly.

Jack glared at Eric. "Seriously. I don't know how this got made, but talk about efficient kerosene management. My advice though, is to turn it off every now and then. Save the juice."

Eric glared at Jack and snatched Murasma and the scabbard, but before he could get a word out Sarah interrupted. "Jack, we know this looks weird, but this is not your home dimension, is it not?" Jack nodded. "Is it so hard to understand that in another dimension, magic might exist?"

Jack put his hand on his chin and furrowed his brow, as if in deep thinking. "I… suppose…" Eric gave Sarah a look that he hoped made him look triumphant and telling Sarah thanks. "Uh…" Jack was scratching his head, still trying to convince himself what a lifetime of scientific teaching taught was fake was, in fact, real. "Um… we'll call that a temporary explanation…"

"Either way, it doesn't look like they have very much faith in a victory via diplomacy," Sarah commented. "If they did, they wouldn't have returned specifically OUR weapons."

"We really are screwed, aren't we?" Jack muttered.

"Aw, buck up, Jack. Show some of that French Revolutionary spirit!" Eric said with bravado, and then doubled over in giggles.

"Does he get like this often?" Jack said, annoyed and jerking his thumb in Eric's direction.

"Only when he gets really bored," Sarah sighed.

"Hey, what's that doohickey do?" Eric said, after easing out of his laughter fit and pointing at what looked like a dark black pistol, with an extremely narrow barrel and various lights adorning the part of the gun above the handle.

"This?…" Jack said, holding it up. "Well, my father had an adventure awhile back. Brought this home as a souvenir, then passed it on to me."

"Looks kind of small," Eric commented.

"Well, it's not the size," Jack said, grinning. "It's how you use it."

"And I'm sure Katt would say the same?" Eric said, rotating his pelvis.

"That's enough!"

Upon further inspection of the ship, all they found were a battery charger, a change of clothes each, although none of them fit any of the passengers on the ship, another set of baggier clothes that looked like stereotypical desert wear that wasn't quite so uncomfortable, and about a weeks worth of ham, bread and water for three people. Sarah explained the mission and the days passed uneventfully, but right when they were about to get into landing range of Allahor, Bob's alarm went off.

"Warning. Spontaneus Engine Failure. Computer suggestions: Brace for impact."

"Fuck, the mana level's fuckin' with the electronics!" Eric cried out.

_"What?!"_ Jack yelled, grabbing onto the bolted-down furniture. A higher and higher pitched whining from the engines could be heard as the ship plummeted, faster and faster. Some of the lighter things around the room, like pillows and the odd potato chip bag started floating.

"Fifteen seconds to impact." Maybe it was the effect of the G's at falling at such a speed, but Bob's speech seemed to be slowing down and slurring.

Sarah looked around, wedging herself in between the doorframe leading into her room. Time seemed to slow down as she looked at Jack and Eric, each bracing themselves in their own way. Her heartbeat echoed in her ears, as the warning blared in the ship.

"Five se**conds**…"

An unexpected jolt of turbulence unlodged Eric from where he lay, holding on to a protrusion of the wall seemingly intended for use as a chair. He skidded over to where Sarah lay and held on to her.

"**Rrroun**** Sekond**…"

"Sarah? Eric? _Jésus__ Doux_, Sarah?"

Sarah opened her eyes and was greeted by a migraine-like pounding in her head. The took several deep breaths as the room stopped spinning. "Nngh…" She moaned as memory of the incident came back to her. "You okay, Jack?"

"I think so," Jack said. "I just woke up."

"Any idea what happened?" Sarah asked.

"I don't know," Jack admitted. "Eric said some crazy _merde_ right before we crashed."

"Eric!" Sarah jumped up, suddenly remembering. "Is he okay?"

"He's still out cold," Jack said, looking at Eric.

"Is he…?"

"No," Jack responded. "I took his pulse. He's down, but not out."

"I guess there's nothing to do now but wait," Sarah said. "Bob, are the sensers still working?"

No response. "Bob?" They looked over and saw Bob, standing upright, all joints stationary, and the lights that looked like eyes were out.

"Man, everything's being destroyed! Look, my digital watch is replaying the scores to last year's Super Bowl," Jack complained.

"Chicago Fire. 1. Las Angeles Elementals. 1. Tie game," Bob droned. The light that may have passed for a mouth was blinking, but the eye-lights stayed off.

"And now Bob is making up team names and scores," Jack added.

"That's weird, my analog watch is still fine," Sarah mused.

At this moment, Eric woke up. "Eric! You're okay!" Sarah cried out, throwing her arms around him. Eric, still recovering from the pounding headache, was hardly aware of the gesture and grumbled something that sounded like "What happened?"

"We crashed. All the electronics either shut down or malfunctioned," Jack said, jerking his thumb in Bob's direction as Sarah pulled away.

"Well, we'd better get moving," Sarah said, helping Eric to his feet. "Pepper said we were supposed to be looking for some people Eclipse looked for, right?"

"Uh…" Eric said groggily, rubbing his head.

"Yeah. So we're bound to run into them at some point in time, right?"

"Excuse me?" Jack butted in.

"Hmn?" Sarah responded. Eric cocked an eyebrow.

"You're widely optimistic. This is a friggin' planet! Whatever you're looking for could be on the entire other side!"

"We still have to go…" Eric said quietly.

"I agree. At the very least, there might be somebody out there who could give us directions."

"Directions? Pff," Jack scoffed. "Okay, okay. SOMEBODY has to go along to be a voice of friggin' reason here." Jack grumbled.

"Glad you approve," Eric said smugly.

Sarah went into their rooms and got their desert gear for them, and after a little trouble forcing the door to open; they left Bob in the ship for the sandy unknown.

Meanwhile, back at the Shroud Residence…

"Hey, Steve? Do you know where-" Marie called, then stopped short. Looking down at the floor, talon-indentations in the thick carpet were going downstairs.

A grunt coming from downstairs. Marie gut clenched. The reunion was over and most of the guests had gone home, but for some reason, Tina and Sam were still over…

"Mr. Lombardi?" Falco started limping faster.

"Steve!" Marie called. Marie dashed down the stairs. Falco unable to keep up, tripped onto the couch and grunted in pain.

"Are you okay?" Marie asked.

"Where am I?" Falco asked.

"Do you remember Eric Shroud? He mentioned you a bit..."

"Eric? What about him? Where am I?" Falco demanded.

"You're in his house. He found you badly beaten and brought you here," Marie explained.

"But you're... human... why?"

"Pardon me?" Marie asked, baffled.

"Why would one of you help one of us?"

"I'm not sure what you're talking about, you need to lay down... Eric helped you before, right?"

"Yeah..." Marie started helping Falco to his feet. Steve showed up and gave Falco an additional shoulder.

"So I'm in... Eric's house?" Falco asked.

"Yeah," Steve said.

Falco furrowed his brow, although it may have been from pain as opposed to difficult thinking. After a long pause, he uttered, "Thanks."

Steve helped Falco into the bed while Maria went to get some extra food and drink. As soon as Falco's head touched the pillows, he heard a voice.

"So." Steve looked over his shoulder.

It was Tina, and she was not happy to see him.

"Now, Tina, I can explain…" Steve said sharply.

"Your explanations are unnecessary, Steve," She replied, just as coldly. "I know what he is. I demand to know what you are doing associated with one."

"That's my business. You stay out of it."

Tina's eyes narrowed to slits, but said nothing, almost for fear of revealing too much. She turned and walked out the door, and Steve could almost feel the heat coming from her hateful gaze.

Steve sighed with worry. He turned back to look at Falco. If it wasn't for his chest rising, he would have mistaken the avian to have passed away right behind his back, but his expression was an unusual complacent, as if the recent news of his friends' return had been enough to ease his soul.


End file.
